DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for foreign priority based on an application filed in China on 29 December 2023. It is noted, however, that applicant has not filed a certified copy of the Chinese application as required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Election/Restrictions
Claims 10 – 15 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 5 May 2026.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claim(s) 1 - 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Steinman et al. (US 2019/0368447), in view of Kordas et al. (US 2017/0219456).
Regarding Claim 1, Steinman discloses a leak detection module (LDM), in at least Figures 5 – 7, comprising: a housing (housing for (200a, 201a, 203a, 204s as seen in Figure 5) including first and second valve cavities respectively having first and second walls respectively extending to first and second openings (see first and second top openings in 502, as seen in Figure 5, in which 200a, 201a pass to enter into first and second cavities being bound by first and second walls, as seen in Figure 6), the first and second walls respectively including first and second holes (702, 704) (Figure 7), the housing having an atmospheric port (506) and a charcoal canister port (504) [0058, 0059]; first and second solenoid valves (200a, 201a) arranged within the housing respectively received in the first and second cavities and extending out of the first and second openings (Figure 6); and a pump (202) having first and second pump ports (top and right ports as seen in Figure 2) respectively coupled to the first and second holes (represented by left port in 200 and left port in 201) (Figure 2).
Steinman fails to expressly disclose the housing including an electrical connector; the pump arranged within the housing; and an electrical connector assembly arranged within the housing and coupled to the electrical connector, the electrical connector assembly electrically connected to the first and second solenoid valves, and the pump.
Kordas teaches a housing (Figure 3) including valves (6, 13), a pump (16), and an electrical connector [0023].
As such, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the applicant’s invention to modify Steinman so that housing houses all of the structure of the leak detection module, including the pump and having an electrical connector for the benefit of protecting the components, providing vibration decoupling, and reducing size and number of connections, as taught by Kordas [0023 – 0025].
Steinman teaches the valves and pump are electrical [0022, 0044].
Examiner takes Official Notice it is common knowledge in the art electrical connectors have electrical connector assemblies to facilitate connection between the connector and electrical components which connect to the connector.
As such, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the applicant’s invention, in the combination, in Kordas’ housing would be located Steinman’s electrical components including the first and second solenoid valves and the pump which would require an electrical connector assembly arranged within the housing coupled to Kordas’ electrical connector and electrically connected Steinman’s electrical components for the benefit of providing power to the electrical components, receiving data from the electrical components, and facilitating connection/disconnection for installation and removal.
Regarding Claim 2, Steinman discloses each of the first and second solenoid valves forms a first and second chamber with its respective first and second valve cavity (Figure 8), both of the first chambers of the first and second cavities in fluid communication with the charcoal canister port (Figure 8), and at least one of the second chambers of the first and second cavities selectively in fluid communication with the atmospheric port (Figures 2, 7).
Regarding Claim 3, Steinman discloses each of the second chambers is bounded by a first and second valve seal arranged between its respective first and second solenoid valve at its respective first and second valve cavity (Figure 8).
Regarding Claim 4, Steinman discloses the first and second solenoid valves are 2-position valves having open and closed positions (Figure 8), each of the first and second solenoid valves configured to fluidly connect its respective first and second chambers of the its respective first and second valve cavity in the open position (Figure 8), wherein the LDM includes three operational states, comprising: non-operational state in which both the first and second solenoid valves are open (Figure 3A); a pressure mode during a testing state in which the first solenoid valve is closed and the second solenoid valve is open (Figure 3C), the first solenoid valve fluidly blocking the fluid flow between the charcoal canister port and the atmospheric port via the first chamber of the first valve cavity, and the pump is configured to move fluid between the canister and atmospheric ports (Figure 3C); and a pressure-hold mode during the testing state in which the both the first and second solenoid valves are closed (the valves are inherently configured for this state as they both have closed positions) (Figure 3A -4C).
Regarding Claim 5, Steinman discloses the first and second pump ports and first and second holes being connected (Figure 2 where filter 203 is optional [0044]), but fails to expressly disclose the connection is nested to one another with a first and second seal respectively therebetween.
Kordas teaches nesting between a pump port and a hole (see nesting between 16 and 6) (Figure 3).
As such, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the applicant’s invention to modify the combination so that the first and second pump port and first and second holes are nested relative to one another for the benefit of a known working connection between pump and valve.
Examiner takes Official Notice it is common knowledge in the art to include seals between connections.
As such, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the applicant’s invention to modify the combination to include a seal between the nested connection for the benefit of preventing leaks.
Regarding Claim 6, Kordas the housing includes first and second housing portions secured to one another (18, 19) [0023] (Figure 3) wherein the combination according to Claim 1 renders obvious enclosing the first and second solenoid valves, the pump and the electrical connector assembly, the first and second walls and the charcoal canister port provided by the first housing portion (19), and the electrical connector provided by the second housing portion (18) [0023].
The combination would have been obvious for the same reasons regarding the rejection of Claim 1 above.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 7 – 9 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Regarding Claim 7, the prior art fails to anticipate nor render obvious the pump includes pump electrical terminal extending in a first direction, and the first and second solenoid valves include valve electrical terminals extending in the first direction, the electrical connector assembly including an insertion direction opposite the first direction and from which the electrical connector assembly is configured to be pushed into engagement with the pump and valve electrical terminals. These features are critical to the applicant’s invention as they allow for simultaneous electrical connection, as discussed in [0047, 0048] of the filed specification.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ALEXANDER MERCADO whose telephone number is (571)270-7094. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Thursday 9am - 4pm EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Laura Martin can be reached at (571) 272-2160. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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ALEXANDER A. MERCADO
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2855
/ALEXANDER A MERCADO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2855
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